Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission: Complaints

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints he has received on the operation of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission's CS2 computer system.

Kitty Ussher: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have therefore asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 29 April 2009:
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about child maintenance, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints he has received on the introduction of the CS2 Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
	In order to interpret the question correctly, clarification was sought from your office. They confirmed that you wanted to know (a) the overall number of complaints received since responsibility for the Child Support Agency transferred to the Commission and (b) the number of complaints received that have been specifically about the transfer.
	The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission took responsibility for the Child Support Agency on the 1st November 2008. The latest data available shows that in the following two months a total of 4,469 complaints were received, slightly less than the figure for the same period the previous year.
	The Commission has been able to identify 18 complaints which were categorised as relating to 'Phasing/Transfer to New System', the most relevant category available. This would include complaints relating to difficulties arising from the 2003 review of the child maintenance system. Discussions with caseworkers, management and the Client Relations Director however, suggest there have been few, if any, complaints relating specifically to the transfer to the Commission.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.